Accepting responsibility for your own actions

1. Accepting responsibility for your own actions As well as international, national and state legal responsibilities within children’s services environments there are also individual responsibilities expected of childcare workers.

2. Occupational health and safety in the workplace • Removal or reduction of potential risks for all persons in the workplace • Responsibilities in relation to yourself, fellow workers, visitors and the community • Responsibilities for the health, safety and care of the children to whom you have legal obligations

3. Duty of care • A legal obligation that relates to your role as an individual working as a child care worker • It is mandated by law and is a very important responsibility

4. Duty of care cont. • We all have a duty of care (or a responsibility) to avoid acts and omissions which can be reasonably foreseen to be likely to injure other people.

5. Policies, protocols and procedures • Written policies and procedures document how individual children’s services operate • They cover all aspects of the day to day operation of the service • You are required to understand and meet the policies and procedures • Policies will protect you

6. Keeping the work area well organised and safe • The work environment must be safe for yourself and fellow workers • Duty of care also extends to being legally responsible for the injury of other people – children, families, visitors and staff

7. Managing resources • Resources can be catagorised as: • Human resources • Material resources • Adequate time

8. Human resources • You can make some contribution to human resource management by: • Completing all tasks assigned to you to the best of your ability • Taking a positive and cooperative approach to your work

9. Human resources cont. • Promptly reporting any difficulties that arise due to staff shortages to your supervisor • Undergo training or retraining to improve your skills regularly • Being prepared to be flexible

10. Material resources As a worker your responsibilities are: • Take care of and maintain any materials and equipment that are provided • Use materials and equipment in a safe and ethical manner • Promptly report any shortages of materials or problems with equipment to your supervisor

11. Material resources cont. • Be aware of ordering, inventory and storage systems in the workplace • Make sure that any materials and equipme t needed on a day to day basis are prepared, in place or easily accessible • Appropriately store materials and equipment

12. Adequate time – being organised • Having adequate time to complete you work is a joint responsibility of the worker and the organisation • As a worker you have a responsibility to manage your work time and stay on task